Question:

The Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) standard was created in order to give wireless networks safety and security features similar to that of wired networks.

(a) List three problems caused by the absence of a key establishment protocol in WEP.

(b) The two forms of authentication provided by 802.11 are Open System Authentication (OSA) and Shared Key Authentication (SKA).

i. Differentiate between these two forms of authentication.
ii. The authentication mechanisms in 802.11 suffer from many drawbacks. Give three drawbacks of using SKA.

(c) By using an appropriate diagram, describe the standard WEP encryption process aiming to ensure confidentiality of packets during transmission.

(d) The various security vulnerabilities present in WEP lead to its failure.

i. List any three vulnerabilities of using WEP.
ii. Briefly explain how Double Encryption Attack can be performed by attackers.

iii. Even today WEP encryption is still used in some networks. Explain how to best make use of WEP in such networks.